Main entry:

Wogenscky, André, 1916-2004.

Title & Author:

Le Corbusier's hands / André Wogenscky ; translated by Martina Millà Bernad.

Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2006.

Description:

91 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-91).
Height 1 -- His Hand 3 -- His Step 4 -- His Personality 5 -- His Hands 6 -- Touching 7 -- Taking 8 -- Body 9 -- Effort 11 -- Bitterness 12 -- Meanders 15 -- The Sea 17 -- Frankness 18 -- Building Oneself 20 -- Open Hand 23 -- Picasso 24 -- Candidness 25 -- Alone and In Silence 27 -- Joy 29 -- Intuitive and Calm 30 -- Work 31 -- The Drawing Hand 35 -- Envelope 36 -- House and Sun 37 -- Unity 39 -- Radiant City 40 -- The Other Architect 42 -- History 43 -- Universal 45 -- Functionalism 46 -- Machine 49 -- Utopia 50 -- Progress 52 -- Space 54 -- Form 57 -- Beautiful 58 -- Void 59 -- Skin 60 -- A Gift 63 -- Nungesser and Coli 64 -- His Mother 67 -- Light 68 -- Modulor 69 -- Music 73 -- Poetry 76 -- Becoming 78 -- Continuum 79 -- Aesthetic State, Poetic State 80 -- Ineffable Space 81 -- Right Angle 83 -- Captions 92.
Also issued online.
Translated from the French.

Summary:

"Le Corbusier's Hands offers a poetic and personal portrait of Le Corbusier - a nuanced portrayal in contrast to the popular image of Le Corbusier the aloof modernist. The author knew Le Corbusier intimately for thirty years, first as his draftsman and main assistant, later as his colleague and personal friend. In this book, written in the mid-1980s, Andre Wogenscky remembers his mentor in a series of revealing personal statements and evocative reflections unlike anything that exists in the vast literature on Le Corbusier."
"Wogenscky draws a portrait in swift, deft strokes - 50 short chapters, one leading to the next, one memory of Le Corbusier opening into another. Appearing and reappearing like a leitmotif are Le Corbusier's hands - touching, taking, drawing, offering, closing, opening, grasping, releasing: "It was his hands that revealed him. ... They spoke all his feelings, all the vibrations of his inner life that his face tried to conceal." Wogenscky writes about Le Corbusier's work, including the famous design of the chapel at Ronchamp, his ideas for high-density Unites d'Habitation linked to the center of a "Radiant City," and his "Modulor" system for defining proportions - which Wogenscky compares to a piano tuner's finding the exact relation between sounds.
He remembers the day Picasso spent with Le Corbusier at the Marseilles building site - "All day long they outdid one another in a show of modesty," he observes in amazement. He adds, speaking for himself and the others present, "We were inside a double energy field." And Wogenscky writes about Le Corbusier more personally. "I have spent years trying to understand what went on in his mind and in his hand," he tells us. With Le Corbusier's Hands, Wogenscky gives us a unique record of an enigmatic genius."--Jacket.

ISBN:

0262232448
9780262232449

Subject:

Le Corbusier, 1887-1965 Anecdotes.
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965 Friends and associates Anecdotes.
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965 Amis et relations Anecdotes.
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965
Le Corbusier.
Architects France Anecdotes.
Architectes France Anecdotes.
Architects
Friendship
France

Form/genre:

Reminiscences.
Anecdotes

Holdings:

Location: Library main 247706
Call No.: NA44.L433.9 W6 2006
Status: Available